Clearing up space on my phone gave me a chance to relive some fun memories! One of my faves… an improvised Ellis song about pre-canasta stolen coffee…and a stolen uke. Bwahahaha!😆

2 wonder women weekends! Last weekend we got to spend a couple days with the funny and fantastic Ruby – and even got to see Katie! This weekend, Sarah and I got to see Wonder Woman at the Riverview. What a treat!

Impromptu visit with Cina who I don’t get to see much these days. So much fun!! 😁

The perfect Sunday morning complete with an extra hour of sleep, waking up to freshly French-pressed delicious coffee made by Sarah, the SUNDAY PAPER (which I’ve not gotten in years and am absurdly happy to have again), and the sweet company of my bestie-roomies. ❤️

My wise and wonderful friends who helped me see a situation that was impacting my health and wellness…and find the solution so I could go back to being ME. What a relief. And I have SO much more energy again. Yay!! Thanks, darling friends. You are truly the best!

💜Ida!
Ida and the Hat, Ida Says Hello, Ida and the Sunbeams, Ida the Rainbow Ride. New book series coming soon. 🤗

💛Fun Food!
Perfectly ripe cantaloupe from the farmer’s market.
Brunch with Katie, Mckenzie, and Cina.

❤️Fantastic Friends!
My awesome friend Ellis, who just happens to have a spare Black Lives Matter button on her when I discover mine is missing! 😊

The excellent care provided by Katie, Cina, Mckenzie, and Sarah after I smashed my finger, including…
• A week off from washing dishes
• Love and support as I managed another PTSD-type panic attack
• Coffee prepped at nighttime so my morning would be deliciously (and quickly) caffeinated
• Hugs and help with everything from opening jars to fastening my seatbelt. LOL. 😆
• Time off from most household tasks
• Tolerance of a bit of whining, sharing of gory photos, and two weeks of incessant yelping (whenever I bump my finger…which is a lot.)

💚Activities Accomplished!

Tools. Organized! Notice that the bar clamps are safely hung away from the main traffic area. No more finger injuries around here! Well, at least not from falling bar clamps…. 😳

Finger almost completely healed! Guess who’s typing with ALL 10 fingers today? This lady!

Coop heat lamps and thermostat successfully installed before the snow.

💙Interesting interactions!

Fun in the sun. With chickens. 🐥

Another wonderful iron infusion. Especially fun giggling over the “Dreamy doctor or nurse!” square on my MDFun bingo cards. Apparently there was a very cute new doc working at the hospital yesterday. 😉 I am so lucky to have such excellent care!

🖤Fabulous flowers!
The last of our snapdragons and black-eyed Susans.

Ida’s brilliance
Lots of things to appreciate, but my favorite for this round is Ida’s comment as she and Sarah were leaving (6:30 am): “The night is pretending to be a morning!” 🌜🌞

Other stuff
Rainbow seen from the infusion lounge window.
Homemade pretzels. (Thanks, Mckenzie & Paige!)

My excellent typing skills which resulted in these signatures recently: Duaba, Doama, and most frequently, Daina.

Sharing stories of our 15 year-old Luna cats with the clerk at Chuck & Don’s.

Apple picking with Sarah, Ida, and Mckenzie.

Thunderstorms.

Sunshiny days in the 70s.

Cozy, snuggly gray mornings with tea.

Big cook days that result in massive quantities of stew and pot pie. Mmmm. Yummy (and quick meal-prep) days ahead.

Canasta night with Sarah, Terri, and Ellis. The perfect blend of competitiveness, smack talk, and giggles. So. Fun!

Iron infusions. OMG. I am so much happier with more iron in my blood. Actually able to function again!!

Our chickens. Ahahaha! They think they still all fit on my shoulders at once.

Coffee date with Sarah!

Work time with Ellis!

The (at first confusing but then ✨magical✨) screen shots that appear on my desktop after Ida’s had a turn playing with the keyboard! 😉
Sticker ✨magic✨ during a super fun day with Ida.

Katie’s ✨magical✨ birthday brunch – complete with all. the. sunglasses.

✨Magic✨ flowers that bloom outdoors all summer and keep blooming indoors now!

The ✨magic✨ of living with three of the most giggle-inducing, best hug-giving, intensely lovable people on the planet. 💜

Using Sarah’s WAY faster (i.e. ✨magical✨) computer for work. Abra-freakin-cadabra, baby!

✨Magical✨ iron infusions which will begin shortly and will conjure up so much energy for me. 😄

Playing ✨Magic Trick✨ with Mckenzie and Ida. Nana is a … puppy-snake! Ida is a … cake!

Black raspberries in August. First time we’ve ever had a 2nd crop!

The Black Eyed Susans I planted 2 years ago… and all the new plants springing up.

Chicken run and coop completed! Happy chickens, happy us!

Fun day with Ruby including fairy dust, reading, and baking. Love!

Tiny goats.

Our gorgeous snapdragons!

Delightful wedding and reunion with improv friends.

Amazing Erin McKeown concert with Sarah. What a fantastic show!

Quiet Sunday with the family: quiche and coffee, Farmer’s Market, games, quality chicken time.

Sweet Tango apples!

Wabedo Giggles
Hand feeding chipmunks and birds, walking in the woods, making and eating yummy food, reading!

Playing games – including the Duncan version of Slap Dash (which they call Pounce and has slightly different rules… and which resulted in the phrase “I pulled a Diana!”). 😊

Listening to this conversation between Ida and her cousin Mackinzie:
I: You make me laugh.
M: Oh? How so?
I: You make me laugh.
M: How am I funny?
I: You make me LAUGH.
M: How do I make you laugh?
I (patiently, as though explaining a very complicated idea): You MAKE me LAUGH.
😁

More giggles
When I arrived up north and changed into shorts, I discovered that while I definitely remembered shaving two legs that morning….it turned out that both of those legs were my right leg. Hahahaha!

More good stuff
Soooo grateful to every Past Diana who has prepped the coffee before bed so it’s ready to go in the morning. Past Dianas are SO good to morning Dianas.

Fun meeting Sarah’s coworkers at the company picnic. And hey – I finally got out to see Rindo’s art IRL. Only took me what, 6 years? 😉

Almost finished building the run for the chickens. Coop is next and then they get to move outside!

Celebrating our 1-year Bestie-Roomie-versary with Sarah. I am so lucky to have her in my life!

Fun road trip up to the cabin with Sarah & Ida! Harry Potter audiobook, interesting conversation, and the excitement of heading out of town. 🙂

Road trip adventure..tree down over the road that leads to the cabin…fell down in the 4 hours between Alisa’s arrival and ours. Thanks for the chainsaw rescue, Bob! 😉

Cabin welcome. Arrived just in time for steak dinner. What?!? Oh yes, so happy Alisa & Bob were celebrating their anniversary in style. Lucky us! Happy Anniversary. Thank you! 🙂

Cabin cabinating. Coffee on the porch, listening to the wind in the trees, birds wings, chipmunk sounds. Smelling the woodsy air. So so good.

Cabin walking. Trees. Mushrooms. Trees.

You’ll notice some changes in the look of this blog in the coming days. I’m making some changes and playing with some new features. Thanks for your patience while the site undergoes who knows what kinds of goofiness! 😊

If you’re looking for a giggle today, you might check out this article. A few of these tweets made me laugh out loud. Happy Tuesday, folks!

100 Funny Parenting Tweets

As always, my days are filled with people and places, sights and sounds, and critters and creations that fill me with joy. Here are a few from the past couple weeks.

Sharing Ida’s 3rd birthday with other folks who adore her. 🎉🎈🎉
Singing with Pam, Peggy, and Mary Kay. What a wonderful treat!!

Listening to Sarah and Ida play the “I love….” game. So sweet!

Calli the katydid (so named because Ida says she looks like a callipitter!!) who seems to live in our kitchen.

Game night with Katie, Cina, Sarah and Janene and Eric. So. Much. Fun!!

Good doc appts – weaning off 2 meds now! Woohoo!

Fun and funny meetings with clients.

No-meeting days. 😉

Our ever-changing windowsill menagerie.

Newly vacuumed floors! (Right up there with clean sheets fresh from the dryer.)

Super entertaining work chats with Sara.

Playing with Ida, who enjoys putting on lotion (“it’s so cozy!”) after squeezing it out of the tube in a rainbow shape. 🌈

Getting my hands and feet dirty while playing in the garden.

Clean hands and feet after that. 😁

Ever-improving fence-line garden. So pretty!

Pouring rain. Thunderstorms. Sprinkles. Gullywashers.

Rainbows and petrichor.

Sunshine.

Chickens!!

So many wonderful visits, dinners, walks, coffees, meetings, appointments and adventures with the beautiful people in my life. I am continually amazed at my incredible luck in being surrounded by the best people. Wowsers!

Somatic Experiencing training with Terri. I can already see how helpful this is going to be for me.

Painting with toddlers. Purple footed fun! 😄

Newly painted living room complete with new light fixtures, curtain rods, outlets & light switches. I feel like a princess surrounded by beautiful things. 👑

Cheezy girls – friends for more than 30 years. Lucky us!

Friends who really get me…and give me t-shirts that prove it. 🤣

Fantastic appts with my docs and Luna’s doc. For me – no colonoscopy for at least 9 months — maybe even a whole year!! For Luna – meds for her UTI (and fewer messes for me, then!)

Our chickens’ first field trip outside. So much fun!

Slappy-Flashy singers and cute boob jokes.

I know I say it all the time, but I am humbled and amazed by the people in my life. ❤️ Not sure how I got so lucky, but I am going to notice and appreciate every moment of it.